“You idiot! Stupid! Foolish!”   Hyunmi flattened her eyes, trying her best to mute out Kibum’s lack of vocabulary to describe her stupidity. For nearly five minutes now, he had repeated the same words as she set him on loudspeaker and tried concentrating on playing Tekken instead.    “How could you reject him like that? The poor guy’s heartbroken!” Kibum finally ceased his insults.   “I didn’t reject him when it wasn’t a real confession to begin with,” Hyunmi stubbornly insisted, trying not to waver at Kibum’s words. But who was she kidding? She was already overthinking everything and wondering whether she said the wrong thing.   “No one ever says ‘I like you, will you be my girlfriend’ anymore. Haven’t you been watching the latest K-Dramas? People don’t even say anything and bam, they’re dating,” Kibum screamed at his phone.   “Well, sorry for preferring the old, traditional method.” She practically jammed the controller keys, letting out the frustration.   “Just… Do something to fix it. I wasn’t kidding about him being heartbroken,” Kibum said, his tone calmer.   Hyunmi wondered whether he meant for her to say those old, traditional words herself. Was she supposed to do the confession now? Or should she act normal and pretend nothing had happened?   A loud knock rapped on her door, and before she could answer, Dongwoo had already barged in with the phone in his hand and a wide grin accompanying his face.   “Sis, how long is your break?” Dongwoo asked.   ”Just this weekend.”   “Great! Sunggyu’s uncle has a beach house and restaurant. He’s in need of volunteers who can help. Of course we’ll get paid and get free accomodation to stay at the beach house.”   His tone was so jovial that Hyunmi couldn’t bring herself to reject him. She was in no mood for some Summer beach fun, not when she didn’t know how to handle this Woohyun fiasco.   “I already asked Woohyun and he’s in. He said he’ll persuade the others to go,” Dongwoo said.   “You told him first but not me?”   “You were on a call,” Dongwoo answered and grinned. “Don’t forget to pack your things. We’re leaving tomorrow.”   Hyunmi’s jaw fell open, not having the time to protest as Dongwoo shut the door behind him. She quickly checked her phone for a message from Woohyun, but there were none. He never mentioned anything in the groupchat either. Was he… avoiding her?   The sound of defeat blasted on the TV as her hero fell down in time with the complete loss overtaking her heart.    She had to fix this, somehow.   ***   Because renting a minivan turned out to be pricier than expected, they opted to travel by train. When Hyunmi and Dongwoo arrived, most had gathered there already, including Woohyun. Hyunmi felt her breath hitch. He was wearing a denim shirt with the long sleeves rolled up to reveal his toned arms. His eyes were covered by a ridiculous oversized sunglasses which, due to her biased favoritism, she thought looked good on him. Time to act normal.   “H-Hi,” she greeted. So much for acting normal. Who stutters while greeting a best friend? She at this.   Woohyun turned to her, the goofy smile he displayed to the others immediately fading to a straight line. “Hey.”   She had to think of a topic, fast. “I bet you didn’t wear your sun lotion.” And she inwardly slapped herself for that. Trying to converse with Woohyun had never required this much effort. Was this the kind of awkward tension she’d feel if she got rejected? Then again, according to Kibum, she had unconsciously done the rejection.   “I have you for that,” Woohyun replied, a genuine smile flashing on his face, almost as impish and playful as usual.   Hyunmi felt her heart stutter. She clumsily dug through her bag, fishing for the sun lotion she had prepared for their beach outing. She was about to hand him the tube when he stretched an arm out. He still wanted her to apply it for him, which would’ve been normal if Hyunmi’s mind wasn’t filled with the focus of touching him. Sometimes she’d reject him for being such a baby, but she had to do anything to mend their relationship.    She gulped once, squeezing the tube a bit too hard, and ended up splattering a chunk of cream on his shirt and face.   Woohyun flinched in surprise and started to laugh. “Pretty sure my shirt wouldn’t mind a sunburn.”   “I’m sorry!” She quickly wiped away the parts that got stuck on his shirt and rubbed it on his arms instead. Then she noticed some bits on his sunglasses, and she spontaneously took off the accessory from him, brushing the bits from it before turning to apply the lotion on his face. Only when she met him face to face did she realize she had closed the gap a bit too much, her face an inch from his. He held her in his gaze, anticipating her next move.   Hyunmi could only hear the pound of her heart as she daringly touched his cheek, softly rubbing the lotion in gentle, circular motions. He let out a low hum, soft enough for only her to catch. Then he smiled, reveling in her touch.    “You didn’t do that as an excuse to caress my face, did you?” He then asked.   “No! It was an accident!”   “Great. Then I can use that excuse.”   And before she knew it, Woohyun had taken some leftover cream and poked her cheeks with it. The moment her jaw fell open, he laughed even harder and began cupping her face in an overly affectionate manner that crossed the boundaries of ordinary friendship.    Well, two could play that game as she reapplied the cream on him. They continued their friendly battle, laughing all the way as many wrist holding and face flicking were involved.   “Hey! Stop flirting and help us with the bags. The train’s arriving,” Kibum called out.   The two abruptly stopped, remembering they were at the train platform where their friends had spectated their show. Even strangers had watched along.   “Sorry,” they both said in sync, blushing a little as they returned to their giggling friends.   Just like that, the awkwardness was gone and everything was fine again. Supposedly.   ***   “Welcome to my uncle’s beach!” Sunggyu greeted once they arrived. His eyes were squinted in a narrow line, and they weren’t sure whether it was due to the sun’s glare or whether it was his default look. He arrived the day before to help prepare for their arrival and was already wearing a flowery Hawaiian shirt in yellow with bright red pants.   “Please tell me that’s not our uniform,” Kibum winced.   “Please tell me the restaurant has a better name than the beach,” Sungyeol commented.   Sunggyu laughed. “It is our uniform, but I got you pink. And the restaurant is called Beach Restaurant,” Sunggyu said.   Maerin giggled at this. “How original.”   “You can settle down your stuff at the beach house first, change into your uniform, and come back here,” Sunggyu instructed.   “We’re working on the first day?” Woohyun asked.   “Work first, play later,” Sunggyu said as if the motto was supposed to excite them. It worked on Dongwoo who loudly cheered and pumped his fists.   Since they got the accommodation for free, they couldn’t protest. So everyone went to the beach house which was only a five minute walk away from the restaurant, chose their rooms, and changed into their assigned uniform. Turned out Sunggyu had color coded them by pairs.   Seulyi tied the ends of her black Hawaiian shirt to make it seem more stylish. She looked over at Myungsoo who ascended downstairs wearing the same color. “I’m happy to match him, but black really is the worst color for this kind of heat. Why does he have to like black?”   As if knowing he was talked about, Myungsoo approached them. He scanned Seulyi’s whole look, seeing she had tied her hair in a ponytail with a large white ribbon to match her short pants. “It looks good on you.”   “T-Thanks. You too,” she coyly said, the earlier complaints all gone.   “I still wished we could’ve worn purple,” Maerin sighed, having been assigned an orange shirt with Taemin.    “Hey, where’s your tangerine pride?” Taemin overheard, referring to their school sport festival.   “Left it when we lost,” Maer